7 gallons of water in oil

M

Michaelcj5

New Member
May 22, 2022
19
Boat Info
2008 sea ray 185
Engines
4.3 mercruiser
Hi all I'm trying to help my in-laws out by doing some research on an issue they have. First time out since winter and the boat idled ok for about 5 min to get out of the no wake zone then when he went to start rolling on throttle it blubbered and died opened the engine cover and oil water milk shake is everywhere. I went over and took the exhaust manifolds off and pulled the plugs and water pour out of 4 of the 6 cylinders. I pumped the oil out from the dipstick tube and we got about 2.5 5 gallon buckets of water before hitting milk shake again. I hooked up a compression tester to the number 1 cylinder and it hydro locked on just a bump of the key so I pulled the tester back out and turned it over a bunch and it kept pouring water in the cylinders with no hose hooked up at all. He did not do any type of winterizing last winter and we had a bunch of 5 to 15 degree days so maybe cracked something. I don't know much about boats so hoping there's a good place to start minus ripping the entire engine apart. Any help is appreciated thanks
 

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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no winterization and temps below freezing = disaster. Engine is probably toast. Will need to rebuild or replace.

Start with draining the oil. Remove plugs and get the water out. Then try a compression test. Good luck.
 
I probably need to head over and drain the cooling system cause it was pouring water so fast in the cylinders I could compression test it with out it filling the cylinder first. The weird thing that has me stumped is it had most of the water in cylinder 1 3 4 6
 
At the least, raisers and manifolds. Head gasket.

Agree with Golfman those temps and no protection, she most likely toast. Get all the water out and start testing

good luck, keep us informed
 
If I rip off the heads do you think it will be obvious what's going on? I took the manifolds off and turned it over 4 or 5 times and every time it would shoot water out after 10 to 15 seconds of letting it sit
 
The biggest thing I'm having a hard time getting my head around is how it ran for 10 min at idle in gear and then went down and it's filling up 1 3 4 and 6 with water I guess it could have cracked it blown both head gaskets but just seems really weird to me I would have though a dead hole or two and maybe one side but not both sides and worst on the front cylinders and back ones
 
What engine is it, as you said your folks boat. If a V8 (or even a V6) I would check the following 1st.

Water coming in that fast to those particular cyl's. I would first look at a freeze damage / busted intake manifold.

Could be freeze damaged heads, too, but manifold is easier and cheaper to check 1st
 
Bill Curtis said:
What engine is it, as you said your folks boat. If a V8 (or even a V6) I would check the following 1st.

Water coming in that fast to those particular cyl's. I would first look at a freeze damage / busted intake manifold.

Could be freeze damaged heads, too, but manifold is easier and cheaper to check 1st
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Agreed, this happened to a buddy of mine who had I think a 6 cyl in his sea ray bowrider. He did not winterize properly after purchasing it in the fall. I went out with him on his maiden voyage in the spring, idled out fine, went to open her up, water was blowing everywhere in the engine area.
 
Michaelcj5 said:
The biggest thing I'm having a hard time getting my head around is how it ran for 10 min at idle in gear and then went down and it's filling up 1 3 4 and 6 with water I guess it could have cracked it blown both head gaskets but just seems really weird to me I would have though a dead hole or two and maybe one side but not both sides and worst on the front cylinders and back ones
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Although some water always seeps past the t-stat, it doesn't start to open up till the temp rises.

Cracks can happen anywhere.

If you need to pay someone to diagnose and possibly fix this (although it's most likely a lost cause)... don't. You'll end up paying more in labor than just sourcing a new block.
 
Lazy Daze said:
Although some water always seeps past the t-stat, it doesn't start to open up till the temp rises.

Cracks can happen anywhere.

If you need to pay someone to diagnose and possibly fix this (although it's most likely a lost cause)... don't. You'll end up paying more in labor than just sourcing a new block.
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I'm gonna go take the intake off today and most likely the head if I don't find the issue with just the intake off. I think they are kinda decided if it's the block they are gonna try and get a new boat if it's just heads or intake easy enough to fix then that'll be the route
 
@Michaelcj5 Best case scenario is the head gaskets are toast based on your description. That’s the only way I can think of that the cylinders could fill with coolant as well as the crankcase. Although the amount of coolant you are describing does not bode well for this being the only issue.

If the engine you have is raw water cooled and nothing was done to winterize it like draining the cooling jackets at the very least. Well when the water inside the block froze it also expanded and likely cracked the cooling jacket everywhere. The whole engine will need replacement if that’s the case.
 
Hoplite808 said:
@Michaelcj5 Best case scenario is the head gaskets are toast based on your description. That’s the only way I can think of that the cylinders could fill with coolant as well as the crankcase. Although the amount of coolant you are describing does not bode well for this being the only issue.

If the engine you have is raw water cooled and nothing was done to winterize it like draining the cooling jackets at the very least. Well when the water inside the block froze it also expanded and likely cracked the cooling jacket everywhere. The whole engine will need replacement if that’s the case.
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Pretty much exactly what I figured but I'll still tear it down some today and see what I find I'll post after with what I see and some pics
 
Here's the comp results
 

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Washington state and it's my in-laws boat and no he didn't winterize it. Pulled intake and it's a cracked block
 

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Sorry…she is toast. 6 gallons of pink and someone to winterize would have saved him a good bit of time and money.

Will he be repowering or scrapping the boat
 
He's gonna figure out getting a new boat I think. Thank you all for the help and taking the time to respond with helpful comments
 
I just dont understand someone who will make that kind of investment, and not do something as basic and easy as winterizing to protect said investment. Do they think bikini gals will come hang out on their boat while it sits on a trailer at the mechanics shop?
 
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